Spirit W | Women can manage teams better: Saatchi & Saatchi's Nisha Singhania

Looking back at her unconventional start, Singhania says, "I did not want to do a regular management course and so I enrolled into a graphic design school where I learnt animation and 3D design for a year. I started working with them as a tutor at the institute and did some odd freelance jobs. This is where I got my first exposure to advertising and I totally loved it."

Around the same time, she heard about an advertising management course at NMIMS. "I applied for it and got through. Those two years were a great induction for me into brand building and advertising and I got a campus placement at Trikaya Grey as a Management Trainee in Account Management," she adds.

From amongst some of her recent work Singhania is extremely proud of the re-launch of the Himalayan brand from the stubby square bottle to the sexy Live Natural philosophy and the Tata Nano "Khushiyon ki Chabi' campaign which is targeted to upgrade the two wheeler audience.

Singhania smilingly adds, "Well I think women have a natural advantage of being able to multitask which is often a challenge for men. I also feel women have far greater emotional intelligence and hence can manage teams better. But besides that I think it is more about the individual rather than a gender bias."

She further adds that today one of the major malaises facing the advertising industry is a lack of good talent. "Advertising has always been a high pressure job, however, till some time back all the hard work was worth it because of the "good times' and easy cultures that advertising had. Today youngsters are not passionate enough about the business and treat this as just another job. I think the challenge for us is to bring back the sexiness to advertising," Singhania points out.

While signing off we ask her would she suggest a change in her team-member's perception of her, and as joyous as her presence her answer reads, "Well in our business perception is reality. So I hope as hell my peers and seniors have good things to say about me." | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]